Lots of activity
A 288-hour outage for renewal work in late November was immediately followed by a 220-hour outage in early December for the Infrastructure in Order programme. Transporters, shippers, businesses and road users around Waalhaven-Zuid therefore had quite a lot to cope with.
Both projects used the same storage depots, which had to be cleared out and refitted in two days. This normally takes two weeks at this location. André: “This involves dozens of trucks delivering points parts, sleepers and ballast, all kinds of machines and cranes, grinding and welding equipment. These activities had an impact on everyone involved in the area.”
Getting to the core business
The impact on the daily operations of hauliers and shippers was not insignificant either. Waalhaven-Zuid was completely out of service for two weekends; in the intervening week, some tracks could be used while work on the other tracks continued. “It is of course also in the interest of hauliers and shippers that the infrastructure in the harbour area is renewed,” says André. “They have already suffered a lot from the outdated infrastructure in recent years. So we desperately needed their cooperation. Together with the contractor, we discussed with them how we could do the work in such a way that they would experience the least disruption. After all, you do affect their core business. I am grateful that they once again made this project possible.”
We ask quite a lot of our customers and neighbours
– André Kop, Construction manager at ProRail
Christmas holidays
In total, 11 points and several tracks were completely renewed by contractor Swietelsky at the Waalhaven yard, i.e. rails, ballast and sleepers. It was a big job, but André didn’t lose any sleep over it, especially as system specialists from Movares and Strukton joined in alongside Swietelsky for the safety systems. All the work went smoothly and on Monday morning, 13 December, all the tracks were returned to service much earlier than planned.
André has been with ProRail for 21 years now and has extensive experience in various small and large projects. Last year his agenda was full: with this last decommissioning, the counter for the year 2021 stands at 71 larger and smaller decommissioning projects. “It gives you a kick that this project has also succeeded. I’m glad I have a couple of weeks off at Christmas though. That gives me the energy to start working on work package 2 of Infrastructure in Order next year.”
